News item:

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Obama Halves Chrysler’s Planned Marketing Budget

Task Force Agrees Automaker Needs Advertising — Just Not $134 Million Worth

By Jean Halliday

Published: May 11, 2009

DETROIT (AdAge.com) — Chrysler wanted to spend $134 million in advertising over the nine weeks it’s expected to be in bankruptcy — the U.S. Treasury’s auto-industry task force gave it half that.

So if GM, which is wrestling with the possibility of a Chapter 11 filing itself, is wondering how much influence the task force will have over marketing, the answer is: plenty. However, transcripts from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for Southern District of New York, where the Chrysler case is being heard, proved for the first time that the task force at least understands that advertising is a necessary expense — even if it doesn’t think Chrysler needs $134 million for nine weeks of car ads. (continued after link)

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So it’s come to this. Anything worth managing is worth MICROmanaging – at least in the ObamaNation. Now I may not be Presidential timber, but I am a marketing guy – and a thinker. I’m not defending Chrysler (Lord knows), but there’s only one group that I can think of that could run Chrysler further into the ground than they already are – and that would be the U.S. Government.

Here’s the problem. If you cut advertising you lose mindshare. It’s as simple as that. This is NOT the time for Chrysler to cut advertising in half. If anything, it’s time to double down on their media buy. (Of course, it would help if they got some ads that were appealing rather than appaling.) If this doesn’t make you think we’re carreeening down a path to create the U.S. version of Yugo, you’re not paying attention.

Speaking of the Chrysler ads, if I were them, I’d take a page from the playbook of Lee Iacocca, when he faced the scandal of Chrysler running back odometers head-on. My recommendation for a new ad would star Bob Nardelli, the lame-duck CEO, and it would go something like this:

Hello…I’m Bob Nardelli, CEO of the Chrysler Corporation. As you’ve heard, Chrysler faces some real challenges as we reorganize, merge, and recreate our company so we can be competitive in the future. What you may not have heard is that Chrysler has some great cars, trucks and SUVs now – and we have more on the boards for the future.

Don’t get me wrong…we realize that we’ve made some mistakes. And we are committed to fixing every one of them. But we have some outstanding vehicles that we’d like you to consider when you’re ready to buy your next vehicle.

Take our Jeep division – did you know that the award-winning Jeep Wrangler and Wrangler Unlimited have both been judged “best in class” by countless auto experts, magazines, and pundits? How about the Dodge RAM trucks? We launched a redesigned RAM for the 09 model year, and it’s been met with acolades around the nation. Or the Chrysler minivans – the original and still the market leader.

We’re committed to turning our company around. And with your help, we’ll restore the Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep brands to where they belong – at the pinnacle of the U.S. automobile industry. I invite you to stop by one of our showrooms today, and see for yourself the great vehicles we have to offer.

Now obviously, one ad’s not gonna win the hearts and minds of the public. But a little frank honesty would go a long way towards convincing the public that Chrysler management actually has a clue, and a chance of rebuilding. Unfortunately, the ObamaNation seems to think they can micromanage Chrysler better than Chrysler, and they are Hell-bent on a penny-wise/pound-foolish stratagem that will virtually insure that Chrysler is destined not for rebuilding, but for the trash heap of history.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 13th, 2009 at 9:07 am and is filed under marketing, media.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.